New Dem video makes fresh push for Latino votes

The Democratic National Committee has released a new Spanish-language video underscoring that Republican front-runner Donald Trump isn’t the only presidential candidate in his party to pose a risk for undocumented immigrants in the United States.

Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump takes the stage for a rally at Clemson University’s livestock arena in Pendleton, South Carolina February 10, 2016. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

But the video, in Spanish, includes clips not just of Trump talking about immigrants, it also includes footage of Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz – both of whom have Hispanic roots.

The video underscores the important of Latino voters in the November 2016 presidential race, as shifting U.S. demographics have given Hispanic voters an increasing share of the electorate.

Donald Trump won a resounding victory in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, coming about a week after he took a second place finish in the Iowa caucus. The two contests are the first in the path to the party’s nomination, and thus bear outsized importance in the race for the White House.

Trump’s rise through the Republican ranks has unnerved many activists and advocates in various immigrant communities.

But the DNC video also includes footage of Ted Cruz, a Republican senator from Texas who took first in the Iowa caucus, saying that he opposes citizenship and amnesty for undocumented immigrants in the United States.

And another clip in the video shows influential Univision journalist Jorge Ramos reporting that Marco Rubio, a Florida senator also vying for the Republican nomination, said that DACA, a program that grants temporary legal status to some young undocumented immigrants, will die.

Rubio and Cruz are both Cuban-Americans, but they have both come in for strong criticism from many Latino groups, in part because of the kind of stances highlighted in the DNC video.